The Indian government has set RIM a deadline of the end of August to give it access to data transmitted by BlackBerry's email and messaging services. If the Canadian-based firm does not comply, Indian telecoms operators will be ordered to close the two services down.

"Our message to RIM and service providers is that if they don't come up with a technical solution by 31 August, then the home ministry will take a view and will shut down BlackBerry Messenger and business enterprises services," a spokesman for the ministry said.

This decision follows a meeting of Indian officials to discuss the future of BlackBerry smartphones in the country. Technology experts believe India's tough stance, which follows similar threats in the last two weeks from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, is a major concern for RIM. Tim Renowden, an analyst at Ovum, said a pattern was now forming of governments having problems with RIM's technology and taking action.

"This is a significant moment. RIM must make a choice about its security architecture and the importance of the security and privacy of its customers, versus the importance of simply being able to operate in these countries," he said.

"It must decide whether customers are better served with RIM offering services in their market, even with these restrictions, or not," Renowden added.

Shares in RIM fell nearly 2% after the deadline was announced. Without BlackBerry Enterprise Service and the BlackBerry Messenger Service, users would still be able to use their smartphones to make calls, send texts and browse the internet.

There are between 700,000 and 1 million BlackBerry owners in India, about 500,000 of which are privately owned and do not incorporate the same security measures as enterprise customers' devices. India is one of the Ontario-based company's fastest-growing markets.

RIM's devices, which have proved popular among corporate customers around the world, offer data protection services different to most other mobile devices, encrypting information and processing it in foreign centres.

While India is a particularly valuable market to the mobile industry, Renowden believes that the situation could become even more serious for RIM if other national governments become involved. He also warned that other manufacturers and operators could also be dragged into the issue.

"This is not just a BlackBerry issue. Other technology firms encrypt their data, and it would not surprise me if they were also forced to open up their encryption," Renowden said.

A deal between authorities and RIM could be seen as a concession, and could be precedent-setting for its operations in other countries.

Although RIM declined to comment, a government regulator in Saudi Arabia said earlier this week that the company had successfully completed "part of the regulatory requirements" required to be granted a temporary reprieve from a ban on some services.

An official for Saudi Arabia's Communications and Information Technology Commission said RIM and other local telecommunications firms were testing transmitting data through domestic servers.